Decry vs Decay - What's the difference?

In lang=en terms the difference between decry and decay

is that decry is to blame for ills while decay is to cause to rot or deteriorate.

As verbs the difference between decry and decay

is that decry is to denounce as harmful while decay is to deteriorate, to get worse, to lose strength or health, to decline in quality.

As a noun decay is

the process or result of being gradually decomposed.

decry

English

Verb

(en-verb)

To denounce as harmful.

* 1970 , Alvin Toffler, Future Shock'', ''Bantam Books , pg. 99:

All of us seem to need some totalistic relationships in our lives. But to decry the fact that we cannot have only such relationships is nonsense.

* 1970 , Alvin Toffler, Future Shock'', ''Bantam Books , pg. 474:

While decrying bureaucracy and demanding participatory democracy they, themselves, frequently attempt to manipulate the very group of workers, blacks or students on whose behalf they demand participation.

To blame for ills.

References

* Chambers's Etymological Dictionary , 1896, p. 114 * * *

Anagrams

decay

English

(wikipedia decay)

Noun

The process or result of being gradually decomposed.

* 1895 , H. G. Wells, The Time Machine Chapter X

I fancied at first the stuff was paraffin wax, and smashed the jar accordingly. But the odor of camphor was unmistakable. It struck me as singularly odd, that among the universal decay , this volatile substance had chanced to survive, perhaps through many thousand years.

A deterioration of condition.

Derived terms

* bacterial decay * decayability * decayable * decayer * orbital decay * particle decay * radioactive decay

Verb

(en verb)

To deteriorate, to get worse, to lose strength or health, to decline in quality.

The pair loved to take pictures in the decaying hospital on forty-third street.

# (intransitive, electronics, of storage media or the data on them) To undergo , that is, gradual degradation.

# (intransitive, computing, of software) To undergo , that is, to fail to be updated in a changing environment,so as to eventually become legacy or obsolete.

# (intransitive, physics, of a satellite's orbit) To undergo prolonged reduction in altitude (above the orbited body).

2009 , Francis Lyall, Paul B. Larsen, Space Law: A Treatise , page 120:

Damaged on lift-off, Skylab was left in orbit until its orbit decayed .

(of organic material) To rot, to go bad.

The cat's body decayed rapidly.

(intransitive, transitive, physics, chemistry, of an unstable atom) To change by undergoing fission, by emitting radiation, or by capturing or losing one or more electrons.

* 2005 , Encyclopedia of Earth Science (edited by Timothy M. Kusky; ISBN 0-8160-4973-4), page 349:

Uranium decays to radium through a long series of steps with a cumulative half-life of 4.4 billion years.

(intransitive, transitive, physics, of a quantum system) To undergo , that is, to relax to a less excited state, usually by emitting a photon or phonon.

(aviation)

To cause to rot or deteriorate.

The extreme humidity decayed the wooden sculptures in the museum's collection in a matter of years.

* Shakespeare

Infirmity, that decays the wise.

External links

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